7 ms·

Did Elon lead his other companies this way and we just didn’t know? Or has he suddenly lost his ability to make good decisions?

elil17 4y ago
Probably some mix of the two.
adastra22 4y ago
This is probably eyewash to flush out leakers. Sent different emails with changed details.
- butterlesstoast 4y ago
  Even if this is eyewash to flush out leakers... why spend the time doing this as the owner of the company? There seems to be a lot more important work they could be tackling on instead of being a meme lord to a bunch of 14 year olds.
  - pifm_guy 4y ago
    The IT department might have sent the email, not Elon himself...
    - klyrs 4y ago
      Anybody competent in IT wouldn't be asking for screenshots of code. They'd know how to access the repos touched by a given user.
      - TheHappyOddish 4y ago
        That wouldn't be relevant if it were for entrapment purposes, would it?
  - karaterobot 4y ago
    In fairness, being a meme lord to a bunch of 14 year olds has been a big part of his playbook so far, and by some metrics it has worked a treat.
  - adastra22 4y ago
    He has done this repeatedly in the past, at Tesla.
- celticninja 4y ago
  Canary trap
- fshbbdssbbgdd 4y ago
  Currently some big portion of the company (maybe a third?) have decided to quit but haven’t been terminated yet, and are still receiving these all-company emails. They are not afraid of being fired by Elon.
DabbyDabberson 4y ago
People I know at SpaceX are terrified of him. They all secretly track when he comes into the office, and actively hide from him.
- pifm_guy 4y ago
  It's really noticeable that work on site at spacex really ramps up before an Elon visit, and then pretty much stops when he leaves again. If he doesn't visit for a few weeks, nothing gets done.
  - Goronmon 4y ago
    If he doesn't visit for a few weeks, nothing gets done. Wow, if his leadership results in such a bad situation at SpaceX I can only image how poor the result will be at Twitter with whatever is left.
  - cududa 4y ago
    Alternative theory: They save all the "stuff that requires physical activity" to when he visits, some of it for show, and actually are doing the real work when he's not there. It's hilarious to think that what you can see from the fence line, constitutes an assessment of what work is being done
  - Quarrelsome 4y ago
    or that the theatre is only on when its only audience member is seated?
  - jmull 4y ago
    Here's a rather more likely reality: The workers have noticed Elon likes to see everyone acting busy and has a propensity for causing a lot of trouble when he doesn't see what he likes. Therefore, they act busy when he's around, and go back to normal, productive work when he's not.
  - pyb 4y ago
    Are people downvoting you because they think it's untrue ; or because they don't like to hear it ?
rockostrich 4y ago
From what I've read the past few weeks, Elon is mostly just a figurehead at SpaceX at this point and it seems like only his cultural presence (read: making everyone work long hours) is still around. Not sure about Tesla but it seems like it's about the same besides very high level business direction decisions.
- jvanderbot 4y ago
  I've heard from tesla autopilot engineers that he just comes in and lays everyone off if he doesn't like their approach. The self-driving teams have apparently cycled through engineers like crazy. I'd love to get a current, internal confirmation on this.
  - wellareyousure 4y ago
    Just consider how hard it is to find good people for a startup. What if indeed, most tech workers everywhere are bad? It doesn’t mean you observe lots of turnover. But it makes it possible that a company is really successful because of it, rather than despite it.
- pmoriarty 4y ago
  I really don't get why corporations in this day and age still make people work long hours. There have been countless studies showing that long hours lead to more mistakes, worse productivity, decreased motivation, worse health, and burnout. Workers are also more likely to leave for a job with a better work/life balance if given the chance. It seems many corporate execs haven't gotten the message yet, and I don't know why.
  - lijogdfljk 4y ago
    i suspect because there are so many bad managers. There's few tests to root out bad managers. The damage bad management is capable of is.. impressive, extensive.
    - falcolas 4y ago
piva00 4y ago
His history at X.com and then PayPal is definitely of someone who tried pushing their own technical delusions down the throats of other technical people, there he got fired for it. It seems minor now but at the time he was pushing for PayPal's tech stack to ditch Linux and use a Microsoft stack instead. Peter Thiel backstabbed him to oust him for that. I know someone that works at Tesla and they say that when Elon comes around there's an aura of terror. They've personally seen him firing people on a whim during one of his "visits".
- scruple 4y ago
  > I know someone that works at Tesla and they say that when Elon comes around there's an aura of terror. Neighbor works for SpaceX and says the same thing.
- FireBeyond 4y ago
  Yup, at PayPal, as CEO, it was "it's cool and all you have this working prototype of PayPal, but really, I think it should be Windows and ASP, so let's start fresh." Board of Directors: "We're not going to do that". I don't think it was backstabbing on Thiel's part (though I despise the man, personally) - there was very little in the way of cogent argument beyond Musk not really knowing Linux at the time. And to be clear, he wasn't CEO because he was a founder/PayPal was his idea/his technical vision and direction - he was only CEO because he was the largest shareholder of the two companies when they merged.
- CoastalCoder 4y ago
  I'm curious if he always has bodyguards when in the office. If you antagonize enough super-stressed-out employees, I'd think one will eventually lose it.
giraffe_lady 4y ago
What do you mean "we" the information has been out there for years for anyone who wasn't trying not to see it. The racism lawsuits, the article by his ex-wife, the thai cave thing, the SEC case, his general behavior on social media and the people he publicly associates with. It paints a picture of someone who is, at best, unreliable, thin-skinned, egotistical, and reckless.
johannes1234321 4y ago
A difference is that with SpaceX and Tesla he was involved in the growth as CEO. With Twitter he is an outsider coming in to a company serving a very different market, with existing structures and projects he can't know about.

elil17 4y ago

Probably some mix of the two.

adastra22 4y ago

This is probably eyewash to flush out leakers. Sent different emails with changed details.

butterlesstoast 4y ago
Even if this is eyewash to flush out leakers... why spend the time doing this as the owner of the company? There seems to be a lot more important work they could be tackling on instead of being a meme lord to a bunch of 14 year olds.
- pifm_guy 4y ago
  The IT department might have sent the email, not Elon himself...
  - klyrs 4y ago
    Anybody competent in IT wouldn't be asking for screenshots of code. They'd know how to access the repos touched by a given user.
    - TheHappyOddish 4y ago
      That wouldn't be relevant if it were for entrapment purposes, would it?
- karaterobot 4y ago
  In fairness, being a meme lord to a bunch of 14 year olds has been a big part of his playbook so far, and by some metrics it has worked a treat.
- adastra22 4y ago
  He has done this repeatedly in the past, at Tesla.
celticninja 4y ago
Canary trap
fshbbdssbbgdd 4y ago
Currently some big portion of the company (maybe a third?) have decided to quit but haven’t been terminated yet, and are still receiving these all-company emails. They are not afraid of being fired by Elon.

DabbyDabberson 4y ago

People I know at SpaceX are terrified of him. They all secretly track when he comes into the office, and actively hide from him.

pifm_guy 4y ago
It's really noticeable that work on site at spacex really ramps up before an Elon visit, and then pretty much stops when he leaves again. If he doesn't visit for a few weeks, nothing gets done.
- Goronmon 4y ago
  If he doesn't visit for a few weeks, nothing gets done. Wow, if his leadership results in such a bad situation at SpaceX I can only image how poor the result will be at Twitter with whatever is left.
- cududa 4y ago
  Alternative theory: They save all the "stuff that requires physical activity" to when he visits, some of it for show, and actually are doing the real work when he's not there. It's hilarious to think that what you can see from the fence line, constitutes an assessment of what work is being done
- Quarrelsome 4y ago
  or that the theatre is only on when its only audience member is seated?
- jmull 4y ago
  Here's a rather more likely reality: The workers have noticed Elon likes to see everyone acting busy and has a propensity for causing a lot of trouble when he doesn't see what he likes. Therefore, they act busy when he's around, and go back to normal, productive work when he's not.
- pyb 4y ago
  Are people downvoting you because they think it's untrue ; or because they don't like to hear it ?

rockostrich 4y ago

From what I've read the past few weeks, Elon is mostly just a figurehead at SpaceX at this point and it seems like only his cultural presence (read: making everyone work long hours) is still around. Not sure about Tesla but it seems like it's about the same besides very high level business direction decisions.

jvanderbot 4y ago
I've heard from tesla autopilot engineers that he just comes in and lays everyone off if he doesn't like their approach. The self-driving teams have apparently cycled through engineers like crazy. I'd love to get a current, internal confirmation on this.
- wellareyousure 4y ago
  Just consider how hard it is to find good people for a startup. What if indeed, most tech workers everywhere are bad? It doesn’t mean you observe lots of turnover. But it makes it possible that a company is really successful because of it, rather than despite it.
pmoriarty 4y ago
I really don't get why corporations in this day and age still make people work long hours. There have been countless studies showing that long hours lead to more mistakes, worse productivity, decreased motivation, worse health, and burnout. Workers are also more likely to leave for a job with a better work/life balance if given the chance. It seems many corporate execs haven't gotten the message yet, and I don't know why.
- lijogdfljk 4y ago
  i suspect because there are so many bad managers. There's few tests to root out bad managers. The damage bad management is capable of is.. impressive, extensive.
  - falcolas 4y ago

piva00 4y ago

His history at X.com and then PayPal is definitely of someone who tried pushing their own technical delusions down the throats of other technical people, there he got fired for it. It seems minor now but at the time he was pushing for PayPal's tech stack to ditch Linux and use a Microsoft stack instead. Peter Thiel backstabbed him to oust him for that. I know someone that works at Tesla and they say that when Elon comes around there's an aura of terror. They've personally seen him firing people on a whim during one of his "visits".

scruple 4y ago
> I know someone that works at Tesla and they say that when Elon comes around there's an aura of terror. Neighbor works for SpaceX and says the same thing.
FireBeyond 4y ago
Yup, at PayPal, as CEO, it was "it's cool and all you have this working prototype of PayPal, but really, I think it should be Windows and ASP, so let's start fresh." Board of Directors: "We're not going to do that". I don't think it was backstabbing on Thiel's part (though I despise the man, personally) - there was very little in the way of cogent argument beyond Musk not really knowing Linux at the time. And to be clear, he wasn't CEO because he was a founder/PayPal was his idea/his technical vision and direction - he was only CEO because he was the largest shareholder of the two companies when they merged.
CoastalCoder 4y ago
I'm curious if he always has bodyguards when in the office. If you antagonize enough super-stressed-out employees, I'd think one will eventually lose it.

giraffe_lady 4y ago

What do you mean "we" the information has been out there for years for anyone who wasn't trying not to see it. The racism lawsuits, the article by his ex-wife, the thai cave thing, the SEC case, his general behavior on social media and the people he publicly associates with. It paints a picture of someone who is, at best, unreliable, thin-skinned, egotistical, and reckless.

johannes1234321 4y ago

A difference is that with SpaceX and Tesla he was involved in the growth as CEO. With Twitter he is an outsider coming in to a company serving a very different market, with existing structures and projects he can't know about.